Disclaimer: I don't own Higurashi no Naku Koro ni, or any of the characters, and I own Skye, and Katsumi belongs to my friend and Kira to my other friend. Gawd, these things get really tiresome to type out.

If this chapter is ridiculously delayed, I'm so sorry. As I'm writing this, it's 12:21 AM on December 8, 2007, and FF is having a serious malfunction. Every time that I try to log in, search, even create a new account (which I thought I would have to do because my account is spazzing so much), it brings up the dictionary page and searches for the definition of "word." FOR GOD'S SAKE, I KNOW WHAT A WORD IS!

Also, some of my stories are spazzing, for instance, this one, and whenever you try to click on them, you get this "cannot find story" thing that gets really annoying. So if this is ridiculously delayed, don't blame me!

If you're reading this, that means that FF decided to be nice again! Yay!

Note: When writing full names, I write them traditional Japanese style, last name first.

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"Hinamizawa?" Katsumi repeated. "That's impossible. We must be dreaming. I must be dreaming."

"We can't be. If we were dreaming, it wouldn't even cross our minds that we were dreaming," I said, automatically resigning myself to living in Hinamizawa.

"We're not dreaming," Kira said quietly. She seemed to be her normal dreary self, but there was a hint of excitement in her voice.

"Well, then, there has to be a way that we can get back," Katsumi said. "I mean, we can't live here forever. If this really is Hinamizawa, that means there's going to be a Keiichi-san and a Mion-san and a Rena-san and everyone else. Our lives are going to be in danger. We have to find a way to go back."

Kira paused. The silence hung heavily in the air. "Go back?" she finally whispered. "Go back? How could you want to go back? Finally, something interesting has happened, and you want to go back?"

"Well-" Katsumi began, but Kira cut her off.

"Weren't you bored back there? Weren't you waiting for something interesting to happen? Every day was the same- wake up, breakfast, school, lunch, more school, homework, dinner, more homework, sleep. I was waiting. Now something's finally happened, and you want to go back?"

I gaped. Kira had always been quiet and mostly kept to herself. Now her voice was filled with a mixture of disgust, anger, and longing.

"Kira-chan…" I started, and then realized I had nothing to say.

"Kira-chan, I-I was just joking," Katsumi said with a little laugh. "I-"

"No, it's okay," Kira said. "I just had to have an angst moment." She smiled the tiniest bit.

A sweatdrop rolled down my face. "Because you're angsty like that, right, Ki-chan?" Suddenly, I gasped. "Ki-chan! Aww, that's so cute!"

Kira growled. "No! No cute nicknames!"

Katsumi laughed. "That totally works for you, Ki-chan." She giggled at the sound of it. "Yeah! And if we meet characters from Higurashi, Mion-san can be Mi-chan, Keiichi-san can be Kei-chan, Shion-san can be Shi-chan, and Rika-san can be Ri-chan!"

We laughed while Kira pouted, unaware of what an ordeal meeting those "characters" would really be.

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Hinamizawa or not, it was still Monday, June 1st, and in accordance with the law, we had to go to a school of some kind. Luckily, Katsumi found some uniforms in a closet ("This house really has everything, doesn't it?"), and Kira found some suitcases lying in the hallway ("Apparently, yes.").

Since there was only one tiny lame school in Hinamizawa, we had no choice as to go there. With a sense of foreboding (would YOU want to attend the same school- no, be in the same CLASS with an insane killer like Mion or Rena?), we made our way down the dirt path to school, using landmarks like the bridge and the junkyard to find our way.

"While we're here," I said, glancing around furtively to be sure no one was listening (Gawd, I'm already getting paranoid), "We should go over some things that we should keep in mind."

"Okay," said Katsumi.

"Mm," said Kira.

"Okay, first off, remember, Maebara Keiichi-san is basically the main character…er, person. Do you think we should refer to them as characters?"

"Nah, that's not really fair to them. Let's call them 'Hinamizawa people,'" Katsumi suggested.

"But now we're kind of 'Hinamizawa people'" too," said Kira.

"What about 'People from Higurashi?'" Katsumi tried.

"Nah, too long," Kira said.

"Maybe we should just stick with 'characters,' for the sake or clarity," I sighed, wanting to move on.

"Works for me," said Katsumi, and Kira nodded.

"Okay," I said. "So as I was saying, Maebara Keiichi-san is the main 'character.' So, we should probably try to stay on his good side, lest he beats us to death with a baseball bat."

Katsumi and Kira seemed to agree, so I continued.

"Ryuuga Rena-san is sweet and cute, but she's an insane killer or something like that, and she has a bull-hook cleaver, so let's try to stay on her side too. Also, we can't talk about Oyashiro-sama around her, because she seems to be really sensitive about that.

"Sonozaki Mion-san seems nice and lotsa fun, and she probably is when she's not driving nails into Keiichi-san's various joints while being possessed by a demon, so…be nice to her and stuff. We can worry about Shion-san later, assuming that we're starting where the series started off.

"Hojo Satoko-san is…evil, but in a different way. She just likes to tease people, I guess, but her brother Satoshi went emo or something and abandoned her, so we should try to be nice.

"And from what I can tell, Furude Rika-san is the only one with really, really, good intentions. Like, trying to save people and stuff. Plus, she's adorable and stuff.

"Oh, and guys?" I said, standing still.

Katsumi and Kira, who were walking slightly ahead, stopped as well and turned around. "Yeah?"

"I think we should try and help whoever is the 'victim' in each arc. Y'know, save their lives and stuff. I mean, as lovely as the thought of Keiichi-san scratching out his throat and getting nails driven through his various joints sounds…" I trailed off. "Oh! The nail thing! You fell asleep during that part, didn't you, Kira-chan?"

Kira was silent for a moment, and then spoke up. "Katsumi-chan, I'm going to kill you for that comment about me looking peaceful in my sleep," was the response.

Katsumi sweatdropped. "I think we should try and save Keiichi-san and the other… victim people. As apposed to just sitting around and trying to live an as-normal-as-possible life here."

"When you put it that way, I'm in," Kira said.

"So, assuming that we're starting off in the first arc, I guess we're going to have to-"

"Skye-chan." Katsumi cut me off. She was shaking a little bit. Kira seemed to be laughing a little bit.

"What?" I said. "Did you guys stick a 'kick me' sign on my back?"

"No…it's worse," Katsumi said, her eyes focused on something behind me.

"You stuck a 'kiss me' sign on my-"

"No. I think you'd just better look behind you."

"What?" I said, turning around. "Is there- OH MY G- AHHHHHHH!" I shrieked, toppling over backwards.

Standing in front of me were Keiichi, Mion, Rena, Satoko and Rika, all looking down at me with a curious look on their faces. A million thoughts rushed through my head, including but not limited to "Keiichi-san is much cuter when you see him face to face!"

I jumped up quickly, dusting myself off and flushing red from embarrassment. I stepped back so I was right alongside Kira and Katsumi, who were staring at Keiichi and his friends. They stared back. There was a great amount of staring.

"Skye-chan, go break the ice!" Katsumi hissed. "If we just keep standing here staring, we're going to be late for school!"

She pushed me forward, and I blushed from embarrassment. "I…um…hi, I guess."

This bold attempt at introduction was met with more confused stares. Keiichi looked like his brain was about to implode.

Suddenly, I was struck by a brilliant idea, and walked over to Rika. I smiled at her, and she just looked confused. Then, I grabbed her two cheeks and pulled them upward in an attempt to make her smile.

"Nipa!" I said, smiling as well.

Silence. Katsumi and Kira stared. Keiichi and his friends stared. Rika stared.

Please, I silently begged. First impressions are important! Say something, Rika-san, or they'll write me off as a total weirdo!

Thankfully, after a moment or two of looking very lost in thought, Rika smiled naturally, grabbed my cheeks, and pulled them apart. "Nipa!" she said happily, and it was the cutest moment of my life.

After that, everything went smoothly. Mion came forward and introduced herself and her friends, as well as explaining that none of her friends except for her spoke English, only Japanese. She, however, was at the top of her English class, and the oldest, so she was fluent.

My heart sank. How were we going to save Keiichi and anyone else if we couldn't even speak their language? The best I could do was communicate through "Nipa!" to Rika, and speak English with Mion. Anyone else, I would have to use hand gestures or something.

"Well, come on everybody," Mion said, continuing to walk. "We're going to be late for school if we don't hurry up!"

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Yay! As I'm finishing this it's December 9, 2007, and FF is up and running again! All malfunctions have been fixed, I think…O.O;

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Review Answers

Teh Future Mrs. Kyo- Yay! XD Yeah, if my fic seems weird for now, it'll get better soon, I promise! The first chapter was like...just introducing the OCs and stuff...and yeah.

Kira35- (already replied to this one XD)